Ending Corruption or beginning of newer and bigger corruption?

Sandhya Jain, an editor at VijayVaani, expresses her disagreement in her article Anna Hazare: NGOs for Governance? She makes her points quite forcefully, and her main points are that such movements (fast unto death):

1. De-legitimizes parliament and elected government, by showing anti-democratic disdain for the elected representatives.

2. Wants to enthrone, people of dubious credentials in the name of NGO's and so on, which are puppets of America.

3. The hurried action smells of a hidden agenda, for it tends to underplay the possibly existing dissent.

Sandhya also gives the example of Medha Patkar run NGO whose credibility has taken a beating owing to recent court strictures against it. We agree with her concluding remark:``... I must say I cannot agree with the main object of Anna Hazare’s fast –to elevate a select coterie as national super cop and super judge, as a national daily put it so aptly.''

The building blocks of the article seem sound, however it misses certain salient points.

Since independence (even though the trend had begun possibly before that), India has never been a functional democracy, unless we consider merely the holding of elections as the proof. Time and again, politicians have tried and succeeded in becoming larger than the nation, and above law.

Mohandas was foremost amongst them and was succeeded by Jawahar. It is no wonder that Mohandasians (Gandhians) pursue the same dream. We, as people think of democracy for them, not for us. This means that we often instinctively think that Laws are for them, we are above law.

If we observe carefully, the high-command culture, prevalent in most political parties reflects this same meme. Each and every, street politician lives and dies dreaming this same privilege.

I have pointed out earlier:

``... How can there be a healthy and vibrant democracy in the presence of a high-command culture? Is Congress democratic? NO. Is JD(S) democratic? NO. Each party is a Congress with different Nehru-Gandhi equivalents at the helm. The high-command is taken to be wise. So Sonia-Rahul in Congress, Devegowda-Kumaraswamy in JD(S) are the decision makers. Why, because it is they who have most of the money, and all parties need money. ...''

Thus, it is not surprising that Anna Hazare, Medha Patkar, one and all cherish and pursue this dream. I have also pointed out that Democracy by itself is not the solution. We need a democratically elected government, but a government which works under an effective constitution. We are anyway full of democracy which can be misused or undermined. Thus we need a new constitution.

And it is this constitution that must be arrived at after a series of debates, drafts, discussions, in short after a lot of deliberate intellectual home work. Until then we will have new jokers replacing old jokers.

I am also appalled by Sandhya's allegiance for Manmohan's personal integrity. We don't care a foot whether Manmohan is clean or not. He has been overseeing a government which has been one of the most evil, most corrupt, and the most anti-national government we have had, with the possible exception of Jawahar's governments. And that is enough for us to understand Manmohan.

Sandhya chastises Mr. Hazare for ``...instigating the middle class intelligentsia that comes to hear him at Jantar Mantar – and neither he nor any of his allies is a grassroots mass leader – to despise and distrust politicians and bureaucrats as a class when these are the constitutional pillars of State....''. Sandhya should know that Mohandas did the same, and thus Mohandasians do likewise!

While Sandhya rightly points out various negative aspects of this movement, she fails to provide her solution to the problem of corruption that Anna Hazare claims he is addressing. We think, providing a conception for a workable solution to the problem of corruption is as important as pointing out flaws in other attempts. For otherwise, people tend to drift towards whatever is available in the name of something is better than nothing.

We did propose a framework for a skeleton of possible solution long ago. In our opinion, in the place of what we have been practicing so far, we need:

...

1. Krishna's non-violence. Not Mohandas's

We must educate ourselves about dharma (a righteousness which alone can truly sustain us) well, so that we can discern if adharma is masquerading as dharma. Never practise tolerance, or non-violence towards adharma!

2. Chanakya's State. Not Jawahar's.

Free market with good moral values. Moral values through quality education about "Freedom, Personal Responsibility, and Wisdom of our heritage Sanatana Dharma". For the moment, we can make only a beginning with this. It may be too far fetched to talk of achieving Ram-rajya at this juncture.

3. Sanatana Dharma's open-mindedness. Not commie-secularism.

Truthful and honest recording of experiences. Learning by verifying or assimilating the wisdom of these experiences. Exploring in a spirit of freedom mellowed with a sense of responsibility. An unswerving and bold allegiance to truth. Discovering, and rediscovering truths pertaining to both Spirituality and Science and reaping benefits from them.

...

We need to build further on this. All are invited to debate, comment and fiercely criticize. All inputs and ideas solicited as well as respected, and we valuable ones surely heeded. Unless we undertake such an enterprise, most if not all, moves towards ending corruption will only pave a beginning of newer and bigger corruption.

Some Interesting Developments in Islam vs non-Islam during March-April 2011

After the Koran burning by pastor Terry Jones, another brave woman Ann Barnhardt has bettered the pastor. The videos can be seen here and here. The pastor can be seen here.

The book-ban-supporting buffoons of India, Narendra Modi included, would do well to derive some courage and values from the brave lady. Recall that India was one of the first countries to ban the book, The Satanic Verses, under the (dis)able(d) leadership of Rajiv Gandhi.

Unfortunately, such items are never reported in Indian media, or even if they are, they are not given their due.

Anna Hazare, Congress and the Lokpal Bill

The anti-corruption drive by Anna Hazare is gaining momentum by the days if not by the minutes. I am yet to read their draft proposal of the Jan Lokpal Bill. The wikipedia entry states:

The Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's ombudsman Bill) is a draft anti-corruption bill that would pave the way for a Jan Lokpal, an independent body like the Election Commission, which would have the power to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without government permission.

This brings to mind a question. If this body is going to be like the Election Commission, then it too may become as corrupt as the EC now is! So what do we gain? If you have some doubts, please read the manifestos and promises of political parties in the forthcoming 2011 elections in Tamil Nadu!

In our opinion, this anti-corruption movement is marred by certain fundamental flaws:

1. It is being led by Gandhians. This reveals that the aftermath of its success may turn out to be worse than the disease itself. Gandhians are big-time socialists, and even bigger-time pacifists (read appeasers). This will entail an even more horrible future replete with immoral affirmative-actions, and state-controlled-economy.

What we need are a new set of principles, to conduct ourselves.

2. It is using democracy as its primordial foundation. It is a well-known fact that democracy is always fraught with perils of reducing to mobocracy (Ochlocracy), a consequence where the cure is worse than the disease. We are already suffering from these symptoms. Our nation has been termed a Republic in its constitution but has largely been functioning as a Democracy. Recall how Ms. Indira Gandhi (Thirty Ninth Amendment) and Rajiv Gandhi (Shah Bano) misused democracy.

What we need is loosely described as a Constitutional Republic. However since the current constitution is infested with Gandhian principles, Socialism and Secularism; we need a new constitution.

We need to ask many such important questions, and obtain fundamental, workable, impersonal answers to them. Otherwise, we will merely have another cult Anna-Hazare-cult, a few decades after we have had Mohandas-cult.

Now, all this does not at all mean that we agree with the objections being raised by Congress clowns, Mr. Singhvi and the likes. There is no gainsaying that this Congress government is one of the most evil, most corrupt, and the most anti-national government we have had, with the possible exception of Jawahar's governments. Meanwhile allegations and their counters are being exchanged. An interesting coverage is given by blog MediaCrooks. The hollowness of arguments by congressmen is appropriately exposed. Needless to state the Congress, in its total lineage, has been one of the most hypocritical political parties.

Vivekananda : The Monk who liked Ice-Cream.

In a recent review of a new book titled: The Monk as Man: The Unknown Life of Swami Vivekananda, it is reported that Swami Vivekananda was fond of ice-cream. The reporter, Madhusree Chatterjee, also states:

``... The 20th century visionary from Bengal, who inspired millions of young people across the world with his secular views on religion and progressive philosophy was intuitive about food. ..." (emphasis mine)

Interestingly, one of the commenter, Mutluru Venkata, below the news item states:

As a layman I am of the opinion that Swami Vivekananda is a Bramhachari who practiced meditation and dhyana., It is quite surprising to see that He liked ICE CREAM., which I feel will be above the practical living by the great soul., Please for heavensake don't try to impose ur personnel ideas about the habits of the legends., Thank you.,

This very effectively summarizes the confusion we seem to have about religion, realization, and spiritual life, at least as regards Sanatana Dharma, also known popularly as Hinduism, and so on.

1. Secular views on Religion!

Firstly, notice the characterization of Swami Vivekananda as someone who had secular views on religion. Whether Swami Vivekananda indeed had such views is a matter that can be debated on a different platform, possibly by more knowledgeable individuals. However, it is surely never obvious that he had such views.

Secondly, the phrase ``secular views on religion'' in this article, in my opinion, portrays as if it was a great thing to have secular views on religion. This too is never obvious, except to those who whole-heartedly subscribe to or have surrendered to the ideology of secularism. And those who have such ideological subscriptions will always slip in a phrase, which can later be referred to as evidence, that Swami Vivekananda had secular views on religion, and that it is a good thing to have such views. One needs to constantly be on guard against such tricks.

In my opinion, Swami Vivekananda always emphasized verifiability of spiritual truths, exactly like all other truths, and thus was one of the earliest articulators of Sanatana Dharma as Truth Based Civilization.

2. Monks do not like Ice-creams!

Notice the earnestness with which the comment is made: ``... It is quite surprising to see that He liked ICE CREAM., which I feel will be above the practical living by the great soul. ...". But earnestness is not enough!

Krishna, it is said, used to like ``Butter and Crystal sugar''. Does that make him any less? The purANas are full of stories and details which are mind-boggling and can cause delusion to even the wisest.

If a detail, of an exalted person, is brought to fore, the knee-jerk reaction should not be that of denial! Please know that it is the same Vivekananda who thundered: "Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die." So, if the fact is that Swami Vivekananda like Ice-cream, so be it! Also, recall that it is the same Vivekananda who boldly declared: ``... Be strong, my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Gita. These are bold words; but I have to say them, for I love you. ...".

It would be foolish of us to evaluate the spiritual persona of Vivekananda by knowing if liked or disliked Ice-cream. It is high-time that we stopped indulging in such foolishness, or worse still, stopped falling into traps laid by the Secularists.

Thus, let Vivekananda's liking for ice-cream not worry us, but let us not be entrapped by the statements like ``secular views on religion''.

The Truth Behind ``Hindu Terror'' : Aseemanand alleges Harassment

Aseemanand, who is an accused in a few high-profile blast cases, has alleged that the investigating agencies harassed him and his family to scoop out a confession from him.

This, if true, is a very very serious matter. The evil Congress, the corrupt Media and their illegitimate ancestors have been beating their chests for months to educate the common citizens about the truth of Hindu-Terror. Now if it turns out that the accused have been tortured to make confessions then it is clearly implied that it is the Congress and Media which wants to conjure up the idea of Hindu-Terror and establish it as a fact by fraudulent and criminal means.

To those who know and understand the Congress and the Media, this is fairly obvious and has been well known. And this must make it obvious to even the die-hard devotees of Congress and Media. Any groups which contain specimens like Digvijay Singh or Barkha Dutt can never come even within miles of credibility. And yet since Congress chose DS as a mentor for their heir-apparent, and the Media Group which thought BD fit enough to represent we the people, they can not be perceived as merely foolish. They are evil.

We do not imply that Aseemanand or any other accused have done no crime. We only say that they must be treated as they are, merely the accused. And until their crime is proven, they are not-guilty. And once we see this, all this chimera of Hindu-Terror falls like a house of cards!

There are two more things which we need to keep in our minds. Ajmal Kasab massacred scores of people in full glare and yet it took the prosecution more than an year to build a proper case. Barkha Dutt spoke to Nira Radia on record and yet she sought benefit of the doubt, a doubt which was nonexistent! And yet, in the case of Aseemanand, in a matter of a few weeks the agencies had obtained a detailed confession, and the bunch of evil jokers, which our politicians and the journalists in large numbers are, had established the fact of Hindu-Terror!

Secularists and Socialists have one common trait. They see what they think exists, and they do not see what they think does not exist. For them, the fourteen century long history of Islam is non-existent, seven decades corruption of Congress is nonexistent, but Hindu-Terror is obviously existent! Manmohan Singh presides over a cabinet mired in corruption cases worth lacs of crores of Rupees, but he is touted as an honest man.

The facts regarding Aseemanand may take some more time to come out, and they may well be contrary to what you and I may surmise; and yet we need to guard against believing what we are told by the media and also the politicians. For, Aseemanand, in all likelihood, is a decent human, while the likes of Digvijay Singh, and Barkha Dutt are most certainly not!